So I realised this past few weeks that somehow already 6 months had passed! I realised recently that we don't hear many people talking about the beginning bits of starting up your own business probably because the process is truly terrifying in so many ways.
Therefore, I started this blog initially to combat some of this. It is important that we myth-bust some of the misconceptions of starting out on your own; in order for people to feel supported by others who are feeling the same but secondly to bring back truth and authenticity to the whole process.
Let me talk about the beginning... I had already been delivering B2C (business to consumer) programmes but there was something missing. I felt that I was making a difference yes but there was something else that I hadn't even started to un-pick and this was the challenging misconceptions and reducing stigma work. I decided in that moment that I needed to a B2B angle (business to business). I wanted to create a vehicle for empowering corporations to educate their staff and deliver sustained impact. This is when The Wellbeing Generation was born.
The first few months I was focusing on getting really clear on the brand, our vision, mission our why as well as pulling together a network of practitioners that were the right people to develop and deliver our workplace change programmes. This was an important part of the process for me, the people are essential. Often, this is where we go wrong in coaching we don't spend enough time on the connection phase connecting the right people to the right businesses. This is a crucial part of the process if we are going to be able to deliver true sustainable change.
In August 2021 we delivered our first few corporate programmes in a range of very different organisations, England Squash, Oxford HR and Oxford University. These were my three guinea pigs that allowed us to test our operational model as well as our content.
What is my one piece of advice for people who are in the first 6 months, don't be so bloody hard on yourself! Things take time, Rome wasn't built in a day. Every time you have these thoughts that make you feel disheartened look back and celebrate three things that you have achieved since starting. Secondly, grow your network and reach out to likeminded people who are doing the same thing as you they are an important part of feeling supported. Thirdly, rest no one can change the world and make a difference from an empty cup regular rest and recovery along the way is a really important part that needs to be honoured.
For us, 2022 is about scale-up and growth I will be looking to extend this progress wider as well as start to dive into the grant funding space with a few local authority funded project that will allow us to extend our work into the Berkshire and Buckinghamshire areas.
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